Amazon Web Services

Ø  Amazon Machine Images (AMIs) contain pre-configured software such as an operating system, application server, and applications. You use these templates to launch your server instances,

Ø  Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) is an Amazon Web Service (AWS) you can use to access servers, software, and storage resources across the Internet in a self-service manner.

Ø  A security group defines firewall rules for your instances. These rules specify which incoming network traffic is delivered to your instance.

Ø  An Amazon EBS volume serves as network-attached storage for your instance.

Ø  Terminating an instance effectively deletes it.This differs from stopping the instance; you are still charged for a stopped instance, and you can restart a stopped instance.

Ø  Amazon EBS volumes can persist even after your instance goes away. If you created and attached an EBS volume in the previous step, it was detached when you terminated the instance.

Ø  Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC). Amazon VPC is a web service that enables you to create a virtual network topology—including subnets and route tables—for your Amazon Web Services (AWS) resources.VPC to leverage advanced networking features such as private subnets, outbound security group filtering, network ACLs, Dedicated Instances, and VPN connections.

Ø  Connectivity from lab/development VPCs to Expedia's network is setup using secure IPSec VPN tunnels, as is production connectivity from all Amazon regions except US East.  Production connectivity between Amazon's US East region and Expedia's data centers in Phoenix and Chandler is via AWS Direct Connect.  Direct Connect uses dedicated 10Gb circuits between Expedia's data centers and the AWS US East region, decreasing Expedia's bandwidth costs and making for more consistent network performance.All inbound communications from AWS are subject to firewall restrictions; communications are denied by default.

Ø  EC2 Linux instances can use LDAPS to authenticate users and groups against Expedia's Active Directory domains, relieving the need to manage separate user accounts or LDAP directories.  Development EC2 instances will authenticate using SEA domain users and groups while production EC2 instances will authenticate using EXPESO domain users and groups.

Ø  The AWS Management Console Gateway (http://awsportal) enables the use of SEA domain accounts and groups for federated authentication and authorization to the AWS console, removing the need to manage users and groups in Amazon Identity and Access Management (IAM).  This portal can be used with all accounts, not just those with VPCs connected to Expedia's network.

Ø  Name resolution services are available for EC2 instances in AWS.  These DNS servers host secondary (read-only) copies of Expedia DNS zones.

Ø  Elastic IP addresses are static IP addresses designed for dynamic cloud computing. Additionally, Elastic IP addresses are associated with your account, not specific instances. Any Elastic IP addresses that you associate with your account remain associated with your account until you explicitly release them. Unlike traditional static IP addresses, however, Elastic IP addresses allow you to mask instance or Availability Zone failures by rapidly remapping your public IP addresses to any instance in your account.